My Name Is Loh Kiwan Mildly Shows The Highs And Lows Of A North Korean Defector

Netflix is bringing us yet another new South Korean film – this time starring the talented Song Joongki and Choi Sungeun. Today we review My Name Is Loh Kiwan, an emotional story about a North Korean defector in Belgium.

Mom and I have been eyeing this movie for a while and got so excited when it was finally released on Netflix because we love both Song Joongki and Choi Sungeun – a pairing we did not see coming. Going into the movie, I expected it, of course, to be an emotional story considering the premise but I was rather surprised by the side plots of it and the directions the movie was taking. I’ve rather enjoyed it, although it was really sad at times, but I can’t say it met all of my expectations, especially when it comes to the ending section of the film. However, the cast is fantastic and the premise is definitely something worth talking about so let’s dive in directly and review it.

From MyDramaList: Loh Ki Wan is a North Korean defector. He has arrived in the unfamiliar country of Belgium from North Korea because of his mother, Ok Hee. He wants to settle down in the country, but his only hope for him to stay is to receive refugee status from the Belgian government. He fights to get that. Loh Ki Wan then meets Marie. She used to be a Korean, but she has now received Belgian citizenship. In the past, she was a shooter. Unlike Loh Ki Wan, who came to Belgium to live a new life, Marie doesn’t have a reason to live. They have an unpleasant first meeting but fall in love with each other.

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I would say that My Name Is Loh Kiwan has two parts and you can feel the shift in the energy somewhere right in the half of it. The first part is focused more on Kiwan himself and his struggles to leave his home country due to many unfortunate circumstances. The first part of the film is honestly just heartbreaking – from his situation with his mom and family to his devastating situation once he actually manages to get to Belgium and faces a brick wall there. It really is crazy how little support refugees have and how many problems they face in the very beginning (and many of them later even) of their journey to a better life. I think that’s why this first part of the film really feels authentic, emotional, and well-structured despite ripping your heart out several times. Song Joongki did a fantastic job in this role – it’s apparent he’s challenging himself these past few years with his roles and the darker vibe definitely suits him well. I really connected with his character throughout the movie and was rooting for him until the very end.

The second part of the film comes to me as a sort of switch in focus and goal – from witnessing a refugee’s escape and fight for survival, we suddenly switch perspectives to a more romantic element of the film and I’m not quite sure how smooth this transition felt. While I liked Marie (and Choi Sungeun’s acting because she never misses) and I think her struggles were portrayed well as well as her budding friendship and relationship with Kiwan, I’m not sure this entire element contributed a lot to the story itself. At times, I felt like the whole story was being slowed down and derailed from the main road and it simply didn’t speak that much to me in the end. The dramatics of sudden gangs and shootings really grabbed the movie and put it back on a k-drama level for no good reason – in a movie where the point is on how a man is trying to survive and beat the system that put him through hell, we certainly don’t need a trope bingo happening. The film would’ve been better if the writers hadn’t decided to list check tropes during the second half of it – terminal illness, crazy villains, gang leaders, unrealistic drug portrayal – we got it all for some reason.

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So, while I think the main point of the film is great, strong, and something worth discussing, I feel like it fizzled out by the end and it’s incredibly unfortunate that this was the direction the film was going in. However, the actors did such a great job with these roles and I think they were the main force behind the viewers believing their story and feeling that connection to their characters from the very beginning. I also appreciate that the film offered us a relatively positive ending because the characters deserved some peace. I liked My Name Is Loh Kiwan a lot but it did feel like I was watching two absolutely separate movies so I’d say my final rating for it would be a 7.75/10 with some bias towards actors playing a role in it. It’s worth watching but it could’ve been way, way better if it focused more on the initial storyline.